Rebel Dad isn't the only person with label problems. Today, the Chicago Tribune published an opinion piece on at-home moms that suggests one of the biggest sources of frustration is the title: at-home mom. The author, Elizabeth Lyons (who wrote "Ready or Not ... Here We Come! The REAL Experts' Cannot-Live-Without Guide to the First Year with Twins," suggesting she knows of what she speaks) notes that the work of an at-home parent is devalued, and part of that comes from the perception that an at-home parent isn't working.

Clearly untrue, she says, proposing that "stay-at-home parents" be called "work-at-home parents." For obvious reasons, this effort probably confuses the issue of what the heck we should call ourselves ("work-at-home" is already defined, in my mind, as someone who works for pay from home). But anyone who shines a spotlight on the underlying problem of appreciation for the work that goes into being a primary caregiver -- especially shining that spotlight from the pages of such a huge newspaper -- should get kudos.

(And she gets extra kudos for acting as if at-home moms and at-home dads are pretty much interchangable when it comes to parenting. Which is, of course, as it should be.)